Hong Kong ex democratic lawmaker convicted for rioting after 2019 mob attack

HONG KONG: A Hong Kong court on Thursday ( Dec 12 ) convicted prominent former pro-democracy lawmaker Lam Cheuk-ting for rioting after he was attacked by a white-shirted mob in July 2019 at the height of that year’s pro-democracy protests.

On the day of Jul 21, 2019, more than 100 white-shirted people stormed the Yuen Long MTR place in the state’s north, attacking passers-by and reporters with clubs and stones. In 2021, several of the assailants were imprisoned for violence and conspiring to harm others with purpose.

Lam, 47, a long-standing member of the Democratic Party, was arrested 13 months after the incident and charged with violence and helping provoke the crime.

He told the judge he had rushed to the scene to assist, but ended up being taken to hospital with scalp, teeth, finger and wrist injury that required 16 to 18 needles, after being attacked.

Judge Stanley Chan of the district judge stated that his opinion of Lam’s willingness to serve as a mediate was that he had merely sought to get some social benefit, and that his existence had stirred things up.

Lam, who had pleaded not guilty, appeared stoic with his hands folded in the port, as the decision was delivered. Some friends started crying. On Thursday, along with Lam, six different people were found guilty.

Sentence may be given at a later time. In the district judge, a felony can result in a maximum sentence of seven times.

Following the 2019 protests, which saw pro-democracy politicians jailed or exiled, liberal civil society and media stores closed, and an electoral reform that has stymied opposition liberals from votes, the beliefs come amid a years-long assault on opposition in the Asian financial hub.

Some nations, including the United States, have expressed reservations about the assault, but Beijing and Hong Kong authorities claim that everyone is treated equally by the rules, and that stability has been restored by the two national security laws passed since 2020.

After being found guilty of conspiring to defame another person under the Beijing-imposed regional security law, Lam is now serving a six-year, nine-month word.

Galileo Cheng, a journalist who was hurt in the attack, told Reuters,” Such a verdict is unjust for those brave people who were trying to save passengers including myself from being assaulted by ( the ) white shirt clad mob, and an act of self-defence.”